Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India

Author(s): Pranabananda Jash
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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Some Aspects of Jainism in Eastern India
sixteen thousand wives to play with Neminatha in a bower in the forest of Girnar hills.38
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Neminatha was betrothed to Rajimati, daughter of Ugrasena and sister of Kamsa. It is stated that hearing the piteous cries of a large number of birds and beasts collected for the wedding feast, Nemi refused to marry. He shuddered at this very idea of Rājimati's father and turned back.39 He left the world to perform austerities.40 At the end of a year he took dikṣā and soon attained Omniscience. He founded a tīrtha as is expected of every tirthankara.
PĀRSVANATHA
The twenty-third tirthankara of the Jainas, Pārśvanatha, who flourished 250 years before Mahāvīra or Nigantha Naṭaputta at Benares, the most reputed cultural and religious centre of India from time immemorial, was born to Aśvasena, probably a tribal chief, and queen Vāmā. The Parsvanatha-carita of Bhavadeva Suri (composed in vs 1412) furnishes an exhaustive and vivid description of the history of Parśva. In fact, "the lives of these tirthankaras are found fully worked out both in the Jaina canonical literature and in individual caritras (life sketches) written by various Jaina Gurus."42 He married Prabhāvati13 who was daughter of a king of Ayodhya. At the age of thirty he renounced the world, and within a short period he became omniscient and tirthankara. It is stated in the Jaina texts that "after fasting three and a half days without drinking water, he put on a divine robe and together with 300 men... entered the state of houselessness."44 On the eighty-fourth day of his deep meditation Pärśva reached kevala. Subsequently he had "an excellent community of 16,000 śramaņas with Aryadatta at their head." There were numerous others with separate heads, such as, 38,000 nuns, 164,000 lay-votaries, 327,000 female layvotaries and a few thousands more belonging to the higher grade of religious qualification.45 Keśi is reported to be the famous disciple of Pārsva.40
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It evidently shows the popularity of the Parivrajaka as well as the Parivrājikā of the Jaina community long before the time of Mahāvira. He is said to have attained nirvana (salvation) in 177 BC on the Sameta-sikhara which is called today the Pareśanatha (Pārsvanatha) hill which lies on the Bengal-Bihar border. His mother and